The present application claims foreign priority benefit of Japanese Application No. 2000-226286, filed Jul. 27, 2000, the contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic equipment that simulates emotion, and that determines a series of movements based on that emotion in a manner such that the movements appear to be normal and understandable.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional pet robot is a system in which information, such as surrounding situations or movements of a pet owner (a user of the pet robot), is acquired with an electronic camera or a microphone. Information about the owner is extracted from the acquired information by using image recognition devices or voice recognition devices. An emotion is produced based on the extracted information, and actions are determined based on the emotion.
However, if the robot""s movement is determined and performed based on simply an emotion, as in the foregoing conventional pet robot, it is difficult for a user to understand the emotion by intuition. Therefore, the user often feels that the robot""s movement is sudden and unexpected. Such problems are not limited to the case of pet robots, but are also found, for example, in other electronic pet devices or other electronic equipment with an autonomous function.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for electronic equipment with an autonomous function in which a user is able to anticipate the movements of the equipment without thinking that something is amiss. In other words, there is a need for autonomous equipment that acts in a natural and understandable manner.
The present invention solves these and other problems by providing a method and an apparatus that operate autonomously, but in a manner that is predictable and understandable enough to satisfy a user that the equipment is operating properly. In one embodiment, the electronic equipment-type device includes an environment detection device for detecting surroundings; an emotion-production module for producing an emotion based, at least in part, on data provided by the detection device; and a movement determination module for determining movement based on the emotion produced by the emotion production module. In one embodiment, the movement-determination device determines the movement so that actions expressing emotion by movement of selected parts of the electronic equipment are performed prior to main actions based on the emotion.
Another aspect of the invention relates to a method of controlling movements of electronic equipment with an autonomous function based on an emotion to enable a user to generally predict the movements. The method comprises detecting an object outside of the electronic equipment; producing an emotion for the electronic equipment based on the detection of the object; determining movements of the electronic equipment based on the emotion; generating a control signal based on the detection of the object and the movements; and controlling the movements of the electronic equipment in response to the controlling signal.
Still another aspect of the invention relates to electronic equipment with an autonomous function for controlling movements thereof based on an emotion to enable a user to understand the movements with relative ease. The electronic equipment includes an object-detection device for detecting environment data including objects and surroundings; an emotion-production module that produces an emotion of the electronic equipment based on the environment data; a movement-determination module for determining movements of the electronic equipment based on the emotion; a control signal generator for generating a control signal based on the environment data and the movements; and a controlling device for controlling the movements of the electronic equipment in response to the controlling signal.